


Where Belief Goes to Die

by Eclissy



Category: DragonFable (Video Games)
Genre: AU where all men in Lore have nipples, M/M, What if Scenario, artistic license with canon timeline, artistic lisence with the architecture of the espina rosa, def not canon, that tag should be on all df fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-03-06 06:22:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18845413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eclissy/pseuds/Eclissy
Summary: A Thorn spy decided to torch the research they did on the Espina Rosa's newest inmate, setting Theano's plans back significantly. Under the guise of a researcher backed by Akanthus, he goes to meet the Champion of Ravenloss.





	1. Chapter 1

The Rose were planning on sending three researchers to the Espina Rosa to examine a peculiar prisoner versed in forbidden magic.   

One of those researchers had been a hidden Thorn, quietly recording what Jaania had her nose in, and sending it to Theano. The very last package he would ever send to his Commander was a pile of ash. 

Theano theorized from the researcher’s letters steadily declining legibility that some epiphany had gripped him. Those forbidden passages had whispered nonsense into his ears, and he torched himself, the other two researchers, and all of their discoveries.

_“I would rather rend the flesh from my own bones than watch Theano or Jaania destroy all life on Lore.”_

Scowling at the scorched ramblings of a dead man, Theano roughly flipped through the bundle of papers that had survived the blaze. The cracked and blackened pages no longer held anything of value. They were merely proof of time wasted.

The incident had set his plans back significantly and taught Theano that if he needed to have something done, he had to do it himself.

“Commander,” One of his men spoke in a hushed voice. “They’re opening the gates.”

Framed in white brick, glowing a ghostly blue from the runes that gave the fortress its name, the huge doors slowly swung inwards.

Inside was complete darkness, only pierced by the blue flames deeper into the prison. Shadows danced behind them, like ghosts lurking in wait. The two disguised Thorns beside Theano rooted themselves to the ground, if not backing away at the imposing sight.

“What are you? Children?” He grumbled, stepping into the pitch-black hall.

His shoes clacked against the floor, nearly drowning out the grating voice of an idiot yelling like their mother had forgotten them at the market.

“You must be the desk-rats,” They greeted Theano quite politely. “Private, get the lights before our guests wet themselves.”

“Yes, sir.” 

When the lights came on, Theano was displeased to see that he had to tilt his chin up to look at the brick wall of a man. He imagined his brain held the same thinking capacity of one too. They grinned at Theano, the corner of their lip twitching at his nonplussed reaction. 

“Normally, stick-people aren’t allowed to play doctor on our inmates. If you did, I’d need more janitors than soldiers. Especially with the newest beast they wrangled. Broke three of who I thought were my best,” The man’s tone dropped to a dark level. “But if General Akanthus himself gave the order, I suppose I have to welcome you to the Espina Rosa. I am Sofist. Head Officer and Jailer.”

Looking past Sofist, Theano found a Rose soldier in spectacles that resembled his own fake pair.

“Does he know how to read?” Theano asked, and the soldier’s jaw dropped open. In the corner of his eye, Theano noticed Sofist face turning purple. His fists were tight by his sides, saying what the useless hole in his head couldn’t. “No, then?” The Thorn’s Commander motioned for his minion to pass him their documents. They nervously scurried to him, making sure Theano was in between them and the terrifying minotaur.

“These are—” The soldier began.

“Our identification, approval from General Akanthus, and the procedures he wants you to follow to make our work go as smoothly as possible,” Theano shoved the paperwork into the soldier’s arms. He didn’t care for groveling, even when he was wearing a standard Rose uniform. If he was found out, this would be on Akanthus for not doing a proper job of providing them cover. “The General will hear of any incompetence handling these instructions. Make sure the cow doesn’t eat it.”

Grabbing the soldier’s shoulder, Theano moved him out of the way and walked ahead.

“Clarence, Rand.” Theano called the other two researchers by their fake names.

Sennidy kept his head down, and Tariche pressed his tongue against his cheek looking at Sofist fuming, sticking close behind their commander.

“Wait! Please wait! No!” They heard the Rose soldier’s begging coming from behind them, increasing in desperation the further they went. It was apparent that the soldier was talking to Sofist anyways.

Somehow, none of the guards milling about decided to stop them from going where they pleased. In fact, they seemed to flinch away at the strict aura surrounding the Thorns. By the time they were well into the barracks, finding themselves in the canteen where the soldiers had their meals, Theano noticed how most of them were severely injured.

Broken limbs swathed in casting, ugly gashes and cuts, dark bruises and burns, and defeated faces. Theano was surrounded by weakness and to top it off, Sennidy had decided to break down.

“Sir?” He squeaked, sweat already beading on his brow. “Wouldn’t it be wiser to ah be more polite since we’re staying here for the long term. If we get found out, er I mean, if we’re too rude to the wardens --”

“—Then there are numerous ways to silence a snitch,” Theano turned, grabbing Sennidy by his collar next to a table a soldier was having lunch at. They continued chewing on their bread, having flashbacks to their family suppers. “See this?” He flashed a small key at Sennidy. “Opens any cell in the prison. Only Jaania, Akanthus, and that cow has one. And now, so do I.”

Sennidy swallowed, and Theano noticed that his brown hair became matted so fast when he was nervous. With his knees shaking so hard, Theano found him to resemble a skittish horse. Easy to put down if his magical and scientific expertise ran out.

“I don’t know what might be hiding in those cells, and I don’t care. But you should.”

Sennidy nodded rapidly at him, and after he dropped the shuddering coward, he glanced at Tariche.

“What about you?”

Tariche spat into the sitting soldier’s food.

“Nope.” He said, ruffling the soldier’s hair. Their nerve shattered and they scurried off to find a corner, just in time for Sofist’s assistant to track the trio down.

His arms were sagging, having run all over the fortress to find them after he respectfully wrangled his superior.

“You can’t just—”

“Try again,” Theano glared at him, waiting for him to be useful.

“I…Let me introduce myself, I’m Brad—”

“ _Try again.”_

Behind his still lips, Theano noticed the private clenching his teeth.

“If you would follow me.”

* * *

 

After they had dropped their personal affects and other supplies in their provided rooms, Brad skipped the touring and lead them straight to their objective.

The Espina Rosa had three floors. Beasts were held captive in the first, petty criminals in the second, and the third was not to be spoken of. That would be difficult considering the trail of carnage leading to its door.

“Watch your step.” Brad said, crossing a small fissure on the floor. The soldiers he included in the small detail escorting the researchers cringed at Tariche picking up a fifth tooth from one of the many cracks in the walls.

From the ceiling to the floor, the cracks fractured and crossed over each other like a huge web. The damage was fresh, judging from the whimpering coming from the cells. Theano figured they had been witnesses to the Rose’s incompetence in handling a single body.

“The inmate you are about to meet was going to be placed in a cell on the second floor,” Brad explained, reaching the door to the prison’s worst. “After we finally got him under control, Sofist wanted to have him buried instead. Placing him on the third floor was a compromise we came to with High Command. If he causes any more trouble though…”

Theano barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course Jaania would compromise, but no matter. The creature they had chained up in the bowels of the prison would serve his plans well.

“The third floor itself is extremely dangerous, and should only be accessed when you are accompanied by the elite patrol.”

“Why?” Theano asked. “To give me an extra three seconds to escape while they get eaten alive?”

“S-sir.” Sennidy whispered, noticing their guards’ carefully contained hatred.

“Well,“ Brad ignored the insult and checked his magic agenda. “Going from the provided documentation, two of you are going to meet the prisoner and the remaining will accompany me to sort prior research.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tariche volunteered, to Sennidy’s dismay. “What happened to the last people that talked to him?”

“You’ll see.” A guard stated darkly.

“Right, I wish you the best of luck.” Brad nodded at Theano with zero sincerity, heading off with Tariche.

With them gone, Theano tapped his shoe impatiently.

“Go on, then. You can waste anyone else’s time but mine.” He tilted his head at the door.

Eerily silent, the soldiers had the sigils on the door’s lock rotate, clicking and vibrating until the gate lifted from the ground. The stone arch let out a gust of wind that swirled at their feet, cooler and sweeter smelling than the beach that surrounded the fortress. 

Whispers, softer than a touch of a feather, hissed and abruptly fell to nothing.

Unfazed in the slightest, Theano descending into the purple corridors behind the group of soldiers. They were much larger than the first and second floors’, the shapes of its walls expanding and contracting as they traversed the maze. It felt more like they were delving into the innards of a leviathan than the bottom of a building.

But even here, the new cracks were showing, pulsing with unseen energy whenever the visitors looked away.

“His cell was supposed to be the closest to the entrance” A soldier muttered, looking up the flight of steps they had come to. “Stairs this time?”

“What do you mean, this time?” Sennidy demanded, his question going unanswered.

The head of the pack waved at the bottom of the stairwell.

“Go ahead,” He cast a not so subtle glance at his fellows. “Monsters are more prone to wandering the ground. We won’t let them climb up. Good luck with your examination, and do mind the other cells.”

The barely hidden threat made the Commander of the Thorn roll his eyes.

Disregarding the soldiers, and Sennidy’s whimpering, Theano took the steps. They grew in height, shrank, twisted into odd angles, and it felt like they looped certain spirals several times but he didn’t care. Sennidy was already wheezing and the soldiers below were becoming suspicious, watching Theano fair better than most seasoned guards, and he didn’t care. Monsters snarled and roared as he passed their cells, and he couldn’t even muster brief curiosity.

This phenomena and ghostly wonder didn’t mean anything to him. They were just annoyances screaming for attention they didn’t deserve.

At the end of the passage, where the bruised metallic bars of a small jail cell fought to stand straight, the prisoner there would prove to be the same.

He sat on the ground, against the back wall. As opposed to the faint light illuminating the rest of the floor, this corner was completely dark. The lone lights came from the blue glimmer of a magic-restricting collar, and the ever so faint glow of the prisoner’s red eyes.

Checking his burnt papers, Theano read the inmate’s name aloud.

“Vaal?”

It bounced off the walls, echoing in a way that made it sound like a crowd was saying his name. Vaal waited until the voices finished calling to him before he deigned to look up at his visitors.

There was a change in pressure in the corridor, pressed down by the intense loathing behind those red eyes. Sennidy felt his knees being crushed under his own weight, and Theano briefly wondered if he had pronounced the name wrong. Not that it mattered.

“Are you awake?” Theano batted the bars of the cell with his papers. “Get up before I make a request for a cattle prod.”

Infuriatingly, the prisoner kept quiet. Theano could see him staring and made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. Sennidy was mouthing frantic warnings at him but it went right over Theano’s head.

“I am—” Theano glanced at the papers again. “—Kenin, and on behalf of the Rose, I will be questioning you in order to evaluate how much of a danger you pose. You _will_ give me answers if you have any sense of self-preservation.”

Slamming his fist against the wall, Vaal made room shudder. Sennidy just about collapsed.

“Threats? You’re threatening me? Faked hospitality didn’t work so they resort to sending me rats,” Vaal laughed. “Did you see what I did to this pit? To those ants in armor? To the whelps that used to wear the same garb you do?”

Narrowing his eyes, Theano moved closer to the bars.

“I’m asking questions. Not you.”

Incensed, Vaal rose to his feet. In the dimmest light, his shadow cut an intimidating height. He was easily a head above Theano, which irked him the same way that bull did.

“You should already know my might, my wisdom, and how many splinters I could break you into.” Vaal slowly came up to the bars separating him from his prey, the ripped chain links dangling from his collar clinking as he moved. “I am the Champion of Ravenloss, and I have suffered no defeat.”

Standing at just a safe enough distance from the bars, Theano’s composure remained unchanged; stagnant in the face of death. He saw the damage, and he wasn’t a drooling idiot like everyone in this tedious nightmare was.

Rather, he was exasperated over how no one knew where their place was. Vaal should know now that he was trapped, there was nothing else to do but give up and make Theano’s life easier.

“We are interested in the so-called forbidden magic you claim to be a master of, along with chaosweaving, a champion of some backend slum, and oh what else?” He turned to Sennidy.

“G-godhood.” Sennidy stammered, inching his way backwards.

“Really?” Theano sneered, the briefest speck of amusement instantly stamped out by Sennidy’s sniveling. “Get over here, I can barely hear you.”

“Yes, sir.” Sennidy reluctantly came to his side, and Vaal paused in his rambling.

He was right on the threshold now, and Theano could see his scarred and rugged face. The gruff man wasn’t just a sudden anomaly; he had seen his share of battles and, if he was to be believed, an endless string of victories.

Scanning the metal bars, Theano choked back a snort. Oh yes, he did believe this washed up piece of driftwood. 

Sennidy did the same, more to make sure that there was no chance of being minced with Vaal’s bare hands. He squinted at the corner of the row of bars, seeing something strange but was too afraid to get any closer.

“Anyways, if you cooperate with us, the Rose will be lenient with you,” Theano continued. “Know that you are already in a precarious situation. Any further disobedience will result in your neutralization.”

For a moment, Vaal kept quiet, leaning against the bars with his arm braced across his forehead. He looked Theano directly in the eye, and saw nothing. No emotion. No fear.

“I’ve met someone with gold eyes before,” Vaal mused, nodding deliberately. “What do you actually want?”

“Don’t interrupt me.” Theano tsked, skimming through the newer documents to see where he should attempt to start. “There will be preliminary questions,” Theano talked over him. “And if you would settle down, blood samples will be collected as, hm, unobtrusively as possible.”

The sharpened shank jabbed right at his heart at an almost inhuman speed. Theano managed to knock it out of the way with the vambrace hidden under his sleeve, but not before it slashed open the thin material protecting his chest.

Swinging wide, the crudely made weapon, a loose cell bar carved to a point, hooked into Sennity. Catching on the space between his ribs, right under his arm, the shank made blood spurt as Vaal gaped at Theano.

They were sharing a mutually astonished stare as Sennidy screamed and struggled to escape. Theano still had his arm up, temporarily frozen over how he narrowly avoided getting maimed, and Vaal, finding that there was more going on than he had realized, curled his lips into a grin.

The prisoner yanked on Sennidy and his shrieking collapsed into a hoarse cough when he slammed against metal, and an arm reached between the bars crushed his throat in a choke hold.

Theano watched Sennidy’s shoes scrape on the uneven ground, beginning to slip as blood flowed into a small pool under his heels. 

Vaal squeezed harder, and Theano could swear he could hear the skin on Sennidy’s neck stretching and snapping at its breaking point. His eyes were bulging and gradually, his futile scratching at Vaal’s arm was getting weaker.

“What did you say your name was again?” Vaal asked casually.

This was nothing to panic over. Theano couldn’t understand why his throat had gone dry.

“Kenin.”

“No, no. You aren’t in league with my last visitors. They popped like over-ripened berries,” Vaal began to tip Sennidy’s head at an odd angle. “Your real name.”

How dare he? How dare this worthless vagrant try to bully him into submission. No, there was still salvaging this.

Straightening his posture, Theano readjusted his coat, lifted his chin, and said “Wor—" 

Turning Sennidy’s head ninety-degrees, Vaal dropped his limp and lifeless body to slump on the ground. Theano’s lie dropped into silence, his shoulders slumping as the potential problems this would cause him started to pile. 

“Look at you,” Vaal laughed. It was a deep and sonorous sound that invaded every crevice of the corridor. “Did I kill your colleague or did I dump your science project in the loo?”

“What have you done?” Theano frantically checked over his shoulder and anywhere a rose soldier could be hiding. “Do you have any idea how much work I have to –” His hand flew to his forehead, gripping his hair as he glowered disdainfully at the corpse.

He had to get rid of it. The weakling that turned himself into a candle had burned the preliminary research on Vaal for a reason. If any of the Espina Rosa’s overseers knew that Vaal had done this, Theano would lose any chance of perfecting his research.

Thinking quickly, he knelt to grab the dead body. It refused to budge, Vaal having pulled its arm into his cell. With the hand trapped firmly under Vaal’s boot, the corpse was going nowhere.

Chest heaving, and struggling not to snarl out of frustration, Theano quashed his fury for the time being. Feeling Vaal’s gaze bearing down on him, he rose to his feet, standing near chest to chest with the brute.

“You aren’t a part of this Rose,” Vaal stroked his chin, jumping to such a conclusion all too fast. Unfortunately, it was partly correct. “Stealing from them? Ah, would be a shame if you had to scurry along without getting what you needed—” He slid his hand through the bars again, gripping Theano by the collar. “—from me.” 

“You want a deal?” Theano ground out.

“I only strike deals with someone that has a name.”

Biting down hard to keep himself from gnashing his teeth, the Thorn’s commander decided to concede.  

“Theano.”

Dipping his chin, Vaal considered the name and Theano himself, dropping the man’s collar and spreading his hand over his chest. Feeling the skin under the gash he made in Theano’s armor, he discovered that he hadn’t drawn blood. 

“That name…” Vaal said, the corner of his mouth twitching. 

Raising his brow at Vaal’s sudden thoughtfulness, Theano grimaced as the chains on the man’s collar clattered against each other from a chuckle bubbling in his throat.

“I had an ex with that name.” He shoved Theano hard, almost sending him sprawling to the ground.

There was no time to put the prisoner back in his place. Theano didn’t know whether or not the soldiers at the base of the stairs heard the idiot screaming. He took Sennidy by the ankles, and Vaal stepped off of his hand, watching Theano drag the corpse away.

“Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow,” Vaal saluted, sitting back on his steel framed bed. “I’ll be waiting, Theano.”

This time, it was his name echoing through the corridor. Theano would have never believed that he could hate the sound of his own name so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I only know how to start new work but never how to finish it! I do have a good layout for this one though, and I've been on and off working on the entire thing. That being said, note that this was posted on may 16, 2019 with a lot of creative tweaking or just plain making stuff out because info isn't released yet or will never be released ;; If the Thorn questline has any major developments later, yknow ;; Well, primarily this is a very indulgent piece Im about to spit out. I just wanted the two swamp haired men to interact.
> 
> This is also the more or less, safe for work version. This first chapter has extremely small changes made to it but in later chapters, the nsfw version will be posted in the usual place. I'm not quite comfortable putting nsfw out in the open yet ;; 
> 
> Gosh, I hope you had a good time reading!


	2. Chapter 2

The great Magesters of Nieboheim; Gods in a Greenhouse City.

In his teenage years, Theano would leer at those sheltered fools as they passed by. Without their robes, masks, or tower, those feeble mages would wilt under the weight of their true incompetence.

The only thing separating him from the so-called mouths of the Shapeless was the poisonous magic that ran through their veins. Why should Theano and his family have to wallow in the First Halo over circumstances left to chance?

“Do not lose your footing aiming so high. There are places Empties shouldn’t reach for,” A Magester had caught him glaring once, noticing some sort of spark in the young man lurking outside of a nondescript home. “You wear your envy so plainly on your sleeve, and with enough time, it will fester into wrath.”

They spoke, merely gazing ahead. Theano was apparently a child throwing a silent tantrum, not warranting enough importance to look down on.

“Such ills can only be cleansed in the belly of the Shapeless.” The Magester warned, hearing the sound of the Empty’s teeth grinding too late to see him lunging for them.

“Theano!” A girl with gold braids clasped his wrist, stopping him just in time. “Did you come all this way to visit me? Even after uhm…” She floundered, trying to come up with small talk. Quickly, she addressed the Magester. “Lovely of you to come by, we bought a brand new set of tools. The flowers you ordered should—”

But the Magester was already on his way. Poor Persephone had such problems finding chances to finish her sentences. She was always disappointed about it, never angry. Theano made up for the both of them.

“New tools? Are they still too heavy for you?” Theano asked dryly, setting aside his indignation for more immediate goals.

He had sounded annoyed, shedding not a hint of concern, but Persephone smiled. She held his hand and her ears glowed pink just from being around him.

“They’re better, not lighter,” Persephone admitted somewhat sheepishly. “I used to be able to carry them to the gardens outside by myself, I swear! I don’t know why I can’t anymore.” Her tone drooped to a sigh and Theano began getting impatient.

“What are you waiting for? Ask me to carry them then.”

The blunt proposal took Persephone aback at first, and Theano thought he had ruined yet another attempt, but the girl started to giggle.

“You’re really kind.” She said, sounding less winded by awkwardness. Why had Theano been worried? Persephone was easy, practically charming herself. “If you aren’t busy today, would you stay with me in the gardens. I like taking care of the flowers but they don’t make for good conversation.”

“If you insist.” Theano pretended to relent.

“Oh, if you’re actually busy or if you don’t want to, I won’t push!”

“I’m going!” He blurted out suddenly, fuming at how Persephone had clamped her hand over her mouth, trying not to grin.

The door to her home opened and the irksome owner of the flower gardens shambled outside.

“Persephone, your mother woke up! She wants to wish you good morning before you go,” He called for his daughter, mood souring at the sight of Theano. “You again! I thought I told you to leave my family alone!”

He shoved himself between Theano and Persephone, posturing like he was ten feet tall.

“Go before I tell the guards you came back to harass us!”

“Father!” Persephone tried to argue, easily being dragged back inside.

Holding back a snarl, Theano retreated to the space between Persephone’s shop and the next building. Leaning next to a window, he listened in on their spat.

“Is this because his family isn’t as well off as ours? Father, that’s shallow!” Persephone accused but her father wouldn’t have any of it.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with this! There’s just something about that boy.”

This wasn’t the first time Theano heard those words though not once have they failed to rile his ire.

“I hear that he scant speaks to anyone with respect let alone treat them kindly. Worse, it’s obvious that he has some sort of ill will towards the Magesters. Just yesterday, I heard from the guards that he’s been seen stalking some of our customers. Wares get stolen when he visits the forum.”

“No one can prove any of that! Theano just isn’t a people person.” Persephone made weak excuses that she fully believed.

“Even if the rumors aren’t true, he gives me a bad feeling. There’s just something off about him. Something lacking…”

Lacking. It was always about what Theano lacked. He couldn’t have anything or be anything because it was meant to be. The Magesters saw Theano this way, and so did the wretches they lumped him in with.

He dug his fingers into his palms, holding back from striking the wall should Persephone’s father notice him.

“That boy isn’t like the rest of us.”

Leaving the shade of Persephone’s home, Theano committed her father’s words to memory. The man had been right.

Theano wasn’t like the others.

He was the only one who knew that Magesters could get busy, like anyone else. They let their guard down and forget to watch their backs. Worse, they thought they were above the vermin scuttling through Nieboheim’s Halos. They forget that they could die like one, from a blow to the head with a tool Persephone realized had gone missing.

Magesters could be butchered like any animal too. After a while, their insides couldn’t be told apart from the butcher’s specials.

They fed Persephone’s flowers well, haphazardly buried in the dirt so the guards could find them before the worms gorged themselves.

What kind of an idiot would leave the bloodied shovel in their own home? Well, Persephone’s father was a laborer that worked with dirt. Definitely no scholar.

“You don’t have to look if it upsets you.” Theano stood by Persephone on the day of the Harvest. She had cried until her eyes had grown so puffy that she could barely keep them open.

Still, she refused to look away from her screaming Father. That murderer’s cries were drowned out by the jeers of the crowd. They threw rocks at him until the Shapeless’ godly form leaned down to swallow his sins whole.

Persephone’s father stopped crying injustice, and cried for his wife and child. His voice was muffled in the throat of his god, until it was finally silenced when his feet slipped past its lips.

Theano’s arms closed around Persephone’s shoulders when she collapsed against him, sobbing pitifully.

“It’s going to be alright,” He promised, whispering to her as he stroked her hair. The people’s cheering made the sky quake but his voice was the only one that mattered. Soon, it would be the only one Persephone would have left. “From now on, I’ll take care of you.”

The dead men’s words were now a fond memory.

Don’t aim so high. There are heights not meant for you.

You are lacking.

But Theano knew he wasn’t meant to wither where he lay, hoping fate would cast him a fond glance. He was meant to be powerful; to get back at the mages that disgraced him.

The reality of it was that others were too weak to reach their goals, and Theano would use their backs as stepping stones to reach his.

That fact hadn’t changed long after he escaped Nieboheim.

At the base of the stairs in the Espina Rosa’s third level, the members of the patrol kept a keen ear out as they stood guard. If they strained their hearing hard, they might hear the new inmate break those annoying researchers.

Their wishes came true and Sennidy’s body smashed head first on to the ground.

Silent abject horror tainted the air until the leader shouted to mobilize and aid Sennidy, despite his twisted limbs.

Sennidy had always been a coward, pressured into joining the Rose by his friends before they urged him to fall in with the Thorn. He may have been smart, but with enough bullying, the sea jelly would agree to the sky being green.

The Commander of the Thorn realized he was glad that Sennidy was dead. His corpse was light and easy to throw off the edge of the stairs.

“Now, I have the perfect excuse.” Theano muttered to himself, fixing his coat. He scanned his surroundings, and glanced down the stairs, locking eyes with a Rose soldier clutching their sword.

“I-I came up to check on you all…” The private stammered, reduced to a shaking mouse by Theano’s disdaining stare. “Don’t move!” He regained composure and seeing Theano disappearing back into the hall of cells, the soldier raced to apprehend him.

* * *

Outside of the chaos in the cells, Bradley showed the Prison’s researcher guest a heavily fortified crate. It stood apart from the other confiscated items within the vault. The seams were welded shut and its chains and locks held it heavy to the floor. All of these measures made the container itself seem like a sleeping beast. Tariche was waiting for it to start thrashing.

He whistled, finding more interest in Bradley’s nonchalance around hundreds of potentially dangerous artifacts.

“You run a busy doggy kennel,” He noted, watching Sofist’s assistant push a large utility dolly over to the crate. “I’m guessing these eventually pile up with how busy the labs are. What do you do with them? Keep’em on ice until we make room for you?”

Bradley paused, considering the question. Though the stuck-up labcoats had been on a scale of weird to outright rude, he supposed he should reward civility. Prisons were supposed to reinforce good behavior after all.

“Were you Clarence or Rand?”

“Just call me Tariche.” The researcher shrugged, already prying at the lid of a smaller crate.

“Oh.” Figuring it was a middle name, Bradley went and unlocked the box Tariche had become curious of.

Amulets, gems, wooden carvings; a whole array of magical items were tumbling to the floor. Tariche felt a breath of fresh air flowing out from the box, like a breeze through a warm meadow. From the scratches on these previous items, he could tell that some of the inmates had fought to try keeping these small comforts close to heart.

“These aren’t dangerous, per say. Just a lot of junk we have to take off of new inmates before we take them to their cells,” Bradley said, tossing a silver pendant on the pile. “We know what most of them are and it’s not worth bothering the labs. Objects like what the weaver had get snatched and don’t end up taking space for long.”

Checking his magic agenda, scrolling through the busy schedules of the Espina Rosa’s personnel, the private pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

“I tend to handle the storage and I don’t want to keep them crowded. It’s just that there aren’t enough people to move this junk.”

“Move them where? An off-site warehouse?” Tariche asked.

Rather than answering him, Bradley lifted the crate and lead the researcher to a row of closed hatches. Leaning his elbow on a rune carved on the wall, Bradley let Tariche watch layers of metal slide away, pulled back by the grinding gears beyond what they could see.  
Tipping the box, the private poured the magical items into the nondescript hole.

The inside was too dark to see inside and Tariche saw that the openings were pretty small. Sofist’s arm would have gotten stuck.

Once the box was empty, Bradley lifted off the rune and the hatch slammed closed. The final shift of metal against metal sounded like the weighty blade of a guillotine.

“Cleaning is a slow process but better safe than sorry,” The private flicked a different switch and the smoke hit Tariche’s nose before the fire had started. “We never know exactly how magic reacts so they don’t get filtered out until they’re safe ashes. I end up watching some of ours handle the chore in case its more volatile than usual.”

Tariche watched the hatch.

It didn’t make a noise. No crackling. No sparks.

All very boring for a process so sickening.

To the front of the room, the heavy doors swung open and Tariche could hear his Commander’s boots angrily pounding on the floor towards him.

Those doors were heavy and Theano had shoved them out of the way like nothing. Tariche hoped the Commander would keep being this sloppy, they might get caught. Better yet, there was an ugly tear across Theano’s chest but Tariche doubted any of the blood was his.

“We’re leaving,” Theano ordered, reigning in his snarl for later. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at the largest sealed crate. “It’s come to my attention that conducting proper research on the subject will be impossible with the incompetence so thoroughly infecting this dog pen.”

“Wow, I was just saying.” Tariche scratched the back of his head, barely bothered by Theano’s haggard appearance. The Commander kept such a straight laced bored-slightly-annoyed frown that Tariche was beginning to think someone splashed him with juice instead of there being an actual disaster on day one.

Looking to Bradley, Theano and Tariche figured he hadn’t been this awake in a long time.

“What happened?” The private demanded, holding his shaking agenda up as if to shield himself from Theano. He had good instincts.

“Funny, telling me what to do,” Theano didn’t want to waste energy rolling his eyes. “I hope whoever replaces you and the warden will know their place.”

Bradley, flushed from fright and shock, bit down until his jaw ached.

“I would call the warden to discuss this but I think he’s already on his way.” The private ground out.

Sure enough, Sofist and a gaggle of the members of the patrol that escorted Theano through the third floor arrived at the vault. Tellingly, the minotaur politely entered with his paling entourage following like sheep.

“Fine,” Theano closed his eyes, pretending to get more frustrated, but Tariche could see the corner of his mouth twitching up. “If you’re here, I won’t need to leave the instructions with your underlings. My remaining partner and I will be leaving for Swordhaven the moment a ship sails from port.”

Sofist’s pause was so deafening, the pressure under the vault’s high ceiling became crushing. They could hear his sweat dripping on the floor.

“The patrol told me what happened,” Sofist was far smaller than he was when they first met. “All of what they…admitted. Was that true?”

“Them abandoning Rand and I, allowing for some creature to attack Rand from its cell, spurring him into blindly running off the edge of a sheer fifty foot fall?” Theano listed casually. “I should hope that was the case. Or else I had come down to the patrol to see that they had snapped his neck.”

Mouth falling open, Bradley couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Sofist taking Theano’s barbs with a dipped chin made it worse.

Then, the story continued.

“…Went...missing…” The leader of the patrol mumbled, piercing the air like cannon fire.

“WHAT?” Sofist turned on a dime and just about lifted the offending patrolman by the neck.

“It was Matthew!” The soldier’s chest heaved. “He went to go see why they were taking so long to come--” He quickly cut himself off.

“Go on now. You’ll only make it worse by lying.” Theano sneered.

Unable to take his gaze off the ground, the soldier continued.

“He went to go see why it was taking so long for them to get scared and come running back. Mathew’s been missing since.”

“Wonderful,” Theano interrupted Sofist before he could tear into the leader of the failed patrol. “I’ll be sure to emphasize that in the report to General Akanthus.”

On the sidelines, Tariche began waving sadly to the patrol and Sofist. He didn’t imagine they’ll see the light of day when high command caught word.

“Wait!” Bradley piped up, struggling between coming up with a solution and organizing a search for the missing soldier. “If we just….couldn’t we—” He looked to the warden desperately, and immediately regretted it.

The other Rose soldiers were looking to Sofist too, knowing their future was bleak, and were guilty they had taken the warden down with them.

“What a waste of time,” Theano turned to Tariche, knowing they could all hear him. “First the fire setback, and now this. We won’t have another chance to examine the subject for months at best. Far longer thanks to that idiot Rand putting his corpse in the way.”

Sennidy really was an idiot but this was all a show to lead the bull into his cage.

“All of you,” Sofist addressed his men. “Leave us.”

The soldiers marched out discreetly. Theano expected Bradley to follow but he stubbornly stood his ground. That one was going to be trouble.

“General Akanthus hearing of this—” Sofist’s lip curled. “—Failure on our part will cost both of us greatly. But, if we were to…”

Compromise.

Sofist obviously hated the concept, almost as much as Theano did. Even when it was others compromising for him, the Thorn Commander preferred that they bent completely.

Still, this was worth letting a smile escape. Slowly but surely, Theano would get his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo it's been a while and after all of this time, a big ol transition chapter. But in the meantime, the Thorn Saga ended so I won't have to agonize over all the details that might get disproved in canon! Still, I'm making a lot of stuff up and hoping it makes sense and is interesting to read. 
> 
> Like, my main fear in writing this is that I might make the nerd jock swamp man too sympathetic just because he's in the protagonist role. If all is going well, that might not be a problem lmao. lbr, the only redeeming qualities he got are that he's unintentionally funny sometimes, and is super hot.


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